Rekindling the Christmas Spirit by Understanding the Messiah's True Identity | Matthew 22:41-46

Unravel the mysteries of Jesus Christ's lineage and the remarkable union of His humanity and divinity as we explore a key passage from Matthew 22. Joined by Pastor Chris May, our enlightening conversation ventures beyond everyday debates on festive tunes and fast food to the consequential beliefs shaped by pivotal moments in history, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Discover why Jesus is not merely a figure of the past but the eternal Son of God and our only avenue to redemption.

Questioning the Messiah's identity stirs the core of our faith. In this episode, we dissect Jesus' own challenge to the Pharisees, delving into the intricacies of Old Testament prophecies and their fulfillment in Christ. Jesus isn't just a descendant of David; He's the divine Lord, a dual reality affirmed by Scripture's unchanging truths. Let's anchor our understanding of God not in cultural shifts but in the biblical texts, with hearts receptive to their everlasting revelations.

As the Christmas season approaches, we wrap ourselves in the warmth of tradition and the profound spiritual meaning of God with us. A time of gratitude, reflection, and an open invitation to explore salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus, this episode rekindles the awe-inspiring narrative of Christ's sacrifice. Feel the embrace of our community at Real Life Community Church, where the wonder of Christmas and the story of Jesus come alive.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky. We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.

Speaker 2: 0:16

We're continuing our series to Matthew, my God's Providence. This is a perfect Christmas text. So if you would stand with me for the reading of God's Word I don't know why. Who did this? I don't know what kind of joke this is supposed to be. Take that for me, thank you. All right, here we go, matthew 22, beginning in verse 41.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, jesus asked them a question saying what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? And they said to him the son of David. And he said to them how is it then that David, in the spirit, calls him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If, then, david calls him Lord, how is he his son? Kind of a perplexing text, isn't it? It's the word of the Lord and you may be seated.

Speaker 2: 1:31

You know, as humans, we all have opinions about a lot of things, do we not? And many of those opinions are subjective. Right One is not necessarily wrong. Some of you would argue otherwise. But let me just give you some examples. We have opinions about when we should start listening to Christmas music After Thanksgiving. Who believes before Thanksgiving, all right After. Okay, there you go. Here's another one.

Speaker 2: 2:08

There's been a debate about the best chicken sandwich in town. How many would say Chick-fil-A. There's no other option, so I'm not going to ask. It's God's chicken people. Come on somebody. Coke or Pepsi, okay, coke, okay, l8. All right, pepsi Boo, all right, apple here's a charged one. Apples or Windows Okay, I've. Here's even more charged one. Raise your hand. Iphone, android how are you guys in this church? There's always going to be one. So, though, these debates are quite charged at times, and we get to have some good fun this morning in disagreement, but you all have been wrong before. It won't be the last time.

Speaker 2: 3:09

But holding to one particular side or the other isn't really a big deal. It's not going to cause you or me any harm. But how many know that there are opinions that we all hold that are quite more serious? Are you with me? They concern more objective situations, and to be on the wrong side, to think the wrong way, could be devastating. It could even be a matter of life or death.

Speaker 2: 3:38

Now I want to be careful here not to rehash old things, but a good example is the pandemic. How many know there were some strong opinions about whether or not to wear a mask, whether or not the businesses should be closed, or vaccines should you not get vaccines? So I'm not here to argue a particular side. But when it came to think about the COVID vaccine, some believe strongly that we need to trust and listen to the FDA and receive the vaccine and the 30 subsequent boosters. But others of you wholeheartedly held the position that the FDA was not to be trusted and that, you know, this is our body and we should be careful of putting in this vaccine. And so you thought, well, it could be detrimental to one's health. At the very least, you thought it should be your choice. So in a situation like that, how many know? No matter which side you're on, if you're wrong you can have devastating consequences. You get the point I'm trying to make.

Speaker 2: 4:42

So, while questions concerning our physical well-being are immensely important our bodies are, in fact, temples of the Holy Spirit there is a much more important question, one that every human being must grapple with, and that is this. It's the one we find in the text, at least partly. I'll ask it like this who is Jesus? Who is Jesus, you know when you're talking with other people outside of the church? I don't think the best question to ask them is are you a Christian? This is the Bible Belt. Everybody's a Christian, right. The question to ask is who is Jesus to you? You know there are many opinions about that question. Who is Jesus, even within the scope of religion? Let me just give you some different opinions. The Islam faith seems. See, they believe in Jesus, but they believe him to be a mere prophet. The Bahá'í faith, which is what? For you office fans, this is what Rain Wilson is the white, and he believes in Jesus. That faith believes in Jesus, but they believe Jesus to be only one of many manifestations of God.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Then you have the Mormons, who claim to be Christians and they believe Jesus is in fact the Son of God. So far, so good, but they believe that he is the firstborn of many spirit children by heavenly parents. They believe and it's funny, they believe that Jesus progressed to deity in the spirit world. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was created, not begotten, and that he was a lesser God or is a lesser God than Jehovah, and they believe that when Jesus was on earth, that he was a mere human being. What about Christians? We believe that Jesus was more than a prophet. Oh, he was a prophet. He was a prophet, priest and king, but more than that, we believe that he is, and always has been, the eternal Son of God, the second person in the triune, godhead. We believe that he was begotten, not created. He is eternally existed. We believe that when he came to earth he was not just man, but he was fully man and fully God. And we believe, in contrast to the Baha'i faith, that he's not a way to heaven, but he's the way, amen. So all of these religions think about this. They claim to believe in the historical Jesus and they claim to respect him and like him, but, as you can see, we all don't believe in the same versions of Jesus. And so the question is does it really matter what we believe about Jesus in as much as we do believe in him Absolutely? To miss who Jesus truly is is to miss life. It is to miss eternal life, and so in our text today, we see this very question addressed in the passage here. Again, it fits nicely into the holiday season because it takes us back to the manger, to the Christmas narrative when Jesus Christ was born. So here it is.

Speaker 2: 8:34

We've seen, throughout the last couple of chapters in Matthew, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. They have approached Jesus because they want him to incriminate himself with his answers. How have they done it that he's kind of God, right, it's like they're not going to win. So he silences them over and over. And now we come to this point where Jesus has had it with their questions and he says let me ask you a question.

Speaker 2: 9:09

He turns the tables and here's what he asked. He says what do you think about the Christ? The Christ is just another title for the Messiah, king, deliverer. And then he asks whose son is he? So, in other words, when you look back to the baby in a major, you must ask, I must ask was he merely the son of Mary and Joseph, or is he truly the son of God, or God the son? Was he created at that moment or has he in fact eternally existed, beloved? These are important questions. Is that baby a mere man or was he truly God in flesh, emmanuel?

Speaker 2: 9:58

So the Pharisees, they have rejected, as we've seen Jesus as the Messiah. So Jesus question is not just about him, it's more general. He says what kind of Messiah is it that you think is coming? And so the Pharisees don't have to think long about the answer. They just they spout this out. They know the answer, they think. And here's how they reply oh Jesus, that's easy. The Messiah is the son of David. The son of David. Now there's answers actually scripturally true in part, but we want the whole truth, amen. There's a lot of people who have partial truths, half truths, but we want the whole truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Speaker 2: 10:54

So you think back to the Old Testament and you had this figure called King David, and though he was in perfect, how many know, he was a mighty and godly King, one, a man after God's own heart, and God used him greatly throughout his reign. And in the book of second Samuel, chapter seven, the prophet Nathan prophesied to King David you remember this declaring that one of his offspring would come after him and that he would establish an eternal kingdom. That is the promised Messiah. And in that text, in second Samuel, it was a familiar and a greatly anticipated prophecy. Israel, who had been under the bondage of so many different empires, and now, in the first century, under the Roman Empire, they lived under tyrants and they have become a scattered people in all, they long for the Messiah, the deliverer, who would come and once again bring justice to the world and deliver his people.

Speaker 2: 12:04

Now, in this very book of Matthew, as a matter of fact, the very first verse, remember it's the genealogy of Jesus which is quite important. The very first verse Matthew says that Jesus is the son of David, the son of Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment to this prophecy. And so so the Pharisees here's what I want you to see. They're right in part. Jesus was to come, the Messiah was to come through the line of David.

Speaker 2: 12:40

But Jesus doesn't stop there. He presses the issue with a second question, verse 43,. Look at it, if you would. And he said to them how is it then that David in the spirit calls him Lord, saying, quote the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. And quote here's Jesus question. If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? Now, before explaining this, can we just pause for a moment? And I want you to.

Speaker 2: 13:17

I want to point out how Jesus aims to prove his point. What's he use? Do you remember when he was in the wilderness and he went up against Satan himself? What did he use? The scripture. And here Jesus uses the scripture. Again, he quotes Psalm 110, which is a messianic Psalm. And why does Jesus do that? Because I'll tell you why. The scriptures are the ultimate authority. They are the ultimate truth. You want truth.

Speaker 2: 13:52

You open your Bible and I want you to carefully notice Jesus' words here. He refers to the Psalm written by who, david, but then he adds these weighty words in the spirit. In the spirit, jesus is affirming what we believe. We don't just believe that this book was written by men oh, we believe that there are human authors, but we believe in the inspiration, the divine inspiration, of scripture. Are you with me? Why is the Bible authoritative? I'll tell you why Because it is God-breathed. It is God-breathed and we ought to live by the Bible and love the Bible. It is unchanging. I don't care what the culture says, I don't. You know, the culture may quote, unquote progress, but how many know the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever, and His word is unchanging, no matter how counter-cultural it is beloved. You ought to hold on to the truth of God's word, and I think we need to be careful about cocking views about God that do not come from scripture. So what's the meaning here?

Speaker 2: 15:19

Jesus appeals to Psalm 110, this well-known messianic Psalm, and he says something curious David does in that Psalm. He says the Lord says to my Lord, now, david, his king, could have been called Lord at times, right. And then David says prophetically the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand. I would argue that David has not drank too much eggnog. He's serious here, he means what he said and again, this is divinely inspired. And so what Jesus is asking here, he's asking how in the world, in Psalm 110, could David call this figure Lord if he's David's son? That would never happen. Are any of you going to call your kids Lord today? Probably not. Some of them act like they're you know you're, they're your Lord, but nonetheless don't call them that. Furthermore, how could David's son sit in a position of authority over him? I think that's really important to think about and, as a matter of fact, the Pharisees are silenced. They have no good answer here, they have no explanation, but Jesus does. David could talk about his Lord, because this future messianic figure, this King that was going to come through his lineage, he's not just the son of David, he's the son of God, hallelujah. So even the great King David is subject to the Lord that would come. That's the point. Jesus is showing that the Messiah is not merely a man, but he's, and he's not just the son of David, he is the son of God, and this is worth thinking about here.

Speaker 2: 17:32

The Pharisees know Psalm 110. They likely had it memorized. This was a great psalm of anticipation and hope. They lived by it, they quoted it, they wrote it down, but they missed the point. Why? Because of their preconceived and faulty notions about who the Messiah would be. This is interesting.

Speaker 2: 17:56

Scholars tell us that first century Jews would have been the last people to believe the claim that a human being could be God. Think about that. Many people today think oh sure the Jews believed in you know that Jesus was born and that you know he was God in flesh, and sure they believed that he would be raised from the dead. Read the Bible. They were skeptics and they would have been the last people to believe such a claim in that day. Eastern religions would have no trouble accepting this. They were pantheists I mean, have you seen Avatar right? Believing that God is a force in everything. So they believe that people could be manifestations of the God forced, if you will. Then you had the Greeks and Romans, who were polytheists and they believe in a lot of gods who could dress up, as it were, as human beings and they could certainly come to earth.

Speaker 2: 19:02

But first century Jews listen they were strongly opposed to the idea that a human being could be God. And yet Jesus Christ, by his word, by his life, by his miracles, by his death, by his resurrection, he confessed think of this even his closest Jewish followers that he was in fact God, the Son, the Pharisees. They were blinded by their own traditions and preconceived notions about God. Now before you and I are too hard on the Pharisees. Let me just ask you do you think when you open up the Bible, you may have scriptures memorized, but do you ever think that you could be blinded by your traditions? That's not what my Sunday school teacher said.

Speaker 2: 20:02

It's difficult not to read the Bible through the lens of our traditions and our preconceived ideas. I told you that I had somebody. It's no secret that I've. When it comes to end times, theology and the rapture and things, as I went to graduate school, I started seeing things in a little different way, actually in quite a different way, and it's been interesting to get to that point. But man, when I saw it in the Bible. It's so clear to me. And if you don't align with me, that's totally fine. But I've had people say to me I'll never believe how you do. And I say why? Well, because that's just not the way I was raised. Could it be I know this has happened to me could it be that the way you were raised could blind you to the truth of Scripture? Do you know?

Speaker 2: 21:00

It's not enough to know biblical passages. We also need to know what those passages mean. How many of you have ever been in like a little Bible study and maybe I hope this never happens in ours. If you do, point at your small group leader today. But if this has happened to you, but maybe even I'm sure this has happened at some point to you, somebody will ask you. They'll read a biblical text and they'll say what does that mean to you? Has that ever happened to anybody? Raise your hand, all right, several of you. What does that mean to you? I don't mean to be crass this morning, but can I just be very, very honest. I don't give a rip what it means to you. That question is not a good question. Casey thought that was funny. That includes you, casey, I don't care what you think it means. Here's the thing I'll never ask what does that mean to you? Who cares? The Bible wasn't written to you.

Speaker 2: 22:03

The question we should be asking in studying and researching is what did it mean to the original audience? And what did Paul mean when he wrote the words? And, even more than that, what did God mean when he inspired the word? But so many times we want to believe certain things about God and so we go to the word and we're searching for our own preferences and we read our own theology and traditions into the text, and that blinds us often to the truth. And you see how devastating this is to the Pharisees.

Speaker 2: 22:41

Biblical passage. Hear me well, they have one meaning but many applications. So you can ask the question in your small group how do you think you can apply this to your life? But one meaning are you with me? So the Pharisees? They miss. They know all these scriptures, but they are so blinded by their own misconceptions and traditions that they miss Jesus. They miss Jesus, they don't believe him, or any other Messiah could be divine.

Speaker 2: 23:23

So at Christmas, here we find this great truth that Jesus is the son of David, amen, amen, but not only that, he is the manual. God with us, god with us. I know we've heard it over and over, but this is worth meditating on. Christmas means for us and actually hear this for everyone. Christmas means for everyone. It means that we all have the possibility of hope. That's what it means for all people.

Speaker 2: 24:13

Every other religion, every other religion just give me three more minutes here. Every other religion, they say if you want heaven, you want eternal life, you want God. Here's what you do. You do 123, abc XYZ, then I have these rules, and then you can find peace and you can find hope and you can find God, you can find heaven. But you know what that means. If that were true, those things were true and they're not, by the way, but if they were true, that means that only the most moral, disciplined, ethical people could get to God. So the rest of you, you're just out. I should say the rest of us, we're just out.

Speaker 2: 25:02

But the good news of the gospel is this Every other religion, they, you know, send some guru, right, some prophet, some leader to tell you what to do. Not so, with Christianity, god sent his son not to just tell us what to do. Oh, he taught and he did tell us what to do, but he came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Christianity says nothing you can do. God is so holy. You are so far apart, every one of us, because of your sin. There is this such a great chasm between us and God that in a million lifetimes we could never earn our way, find our way to him. God is holy. We are not. That's part of the gospel. Before we get to the good news, we've got to understand the bad news. But the great news is this that while we were sinners, christ came, took on flesh and he died for us that we might become the righteousness of God. And it's through Jesus, through Jesus, god with us, that we can have life, which means it's for everybody.

Speaker 2: 26:30

I don't care what you've done, I don't care what yesterday looked like. I don't care what this morning looked like. How many of you know? Like the hour before church, if you got kids, it's like an unholy hour, right, I don't care, I don't care what has happened in the past. If you will repent and turn to the Lord, jesus Christ, realize today that you can't earn your way. If you'll say Jesus, I trust in you wholly and completely. I repent, I turn to you as Lord and Savior Beloved. You can be brought to God today.

Speaker 2: 27:06

Say one other thing here about Emmanuel, as Ron mentioned. I'm quite aware of so much loss and hurt and sickness and all that many of you have faced today. And there's this big question that stops actually many people from coming to faith. That's a big obstacle for them. And that's this question If God is so good and if he's all powerful, why does he allow evil and suffering? Because they would argue that either he's really good and doesn't want evil and suffering to take place, but he's not all powerful, so he just can't do anything about it, or he could do something about it. He's omnipotent, all powerful, but he just doesn't give a care. And this has been a long debated issue. And of course we know evil happens because of sin, but that doesn't. I don't think that answer suffices. But here's what I would say to you that I see in the Christmas story and Tim Keller pointed this out years ago and it just really spoke to my heart I do not know why God allows evil and suffering.

Speaker 2: 28:17

I don't know why God didn't heal your loved one. I don't know why God allowed you to go through that financial situation, or I don't know why people are suffering all across the world today. I don't know the reason, but I know what the reason is. Not. It's not that he is aloof to our suffering. It's not that he does not care. And you say, well, how do you know that? Because he became Emmanuel God with us and he took on flesh and he suffered as well. He took on flesh, as a matter of fact, he suffered more than you and I could ever imagine, not just physically, but he felt forsaken by God himself when he never did a thing in the world to deserve it. If you're going through something today, I want you to know.

Speaker 2: 29:13

The Bible says God is close to the brokenhearted. You serve a Lord, a savior, who can sympathize with you and your suffering. So I'll leave you with this question who is Jesus to you? And many of you in here would say, oh yeah, he's the son of God, son of David, son of God. Sure, but there's another question that's tied to this and without the right answer to this next question, the first one doesn't really matter to you and that is okay.

Speaker 2: 29:46

Great, you believe Jesus is the son of God. What are you doing about it? What are you doing about it? Here's what John 1 12 says but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. It's not enough just to believe. You got to receive Mark 16, 16,. Whoever believes in his baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And we know that in the Bible over and over and over.

Speaker 2: 30:15

That biblical faith is not just intellectual belief. It is to believe, yes, in the facts of the gospel, the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. But it is to go beyond and say, lord, I believe you are Lord and I will follow you. I'll follow you all the days of my life. That's what it is to be a Christian.

Speaker 2: 30:41

Because the Christmas story, it transforms us. When Christ comes into our lives, he does not leave us the same. We ought to act different, we ought to think differently. We ought to, we ought to talk differently. We ought to love differently. Has the Christmas story and the Easter story? Have those stories changed you? If you believe he's God the son, why aren't you following him? Why would you pick and choose the commands that you want to follow? Beloved, he is God with us.

Speaker 2: 31:21

Here's the beautiful thing about Jesus being Lord. When we think of this word Lord, we think of tyrants. That type of power is used to crush people in this world most often. But Jesus came not to crush you. He said oh, come to me, you who are burden and heavy laden. He didn't say I'm going to kick you while you're down. He'll say I'll give you rest.

Speaker 2: 31:47

Some of you have no Christmas peace today, no Christmas joy today, because you don't know the Lord truly. You want him to be savor, but you want nothing. You want to be the Lord of your own life. It doesn't work. So I don't know where you're at today, but would you turn to Emmanuel today? Be the best Christmas gift you'll ever receive. It'll be. He'll give you salvation.

Speaker 2: 32:13

I'll close with these words John Wesley you might recognize that name the great founder of the Methodist church. He uttered these last words on his deathbed. Don't miss this. Here's what he said on his deathbed the best of all is God with us. Two times he said this in the final moments of his life the best of all is God with us.

Speaker 2: 32:39

And so I love, as you do, several things about Christmas. I love the nostalgia, I love family time. I love exchanging gifts. I even love cold weather. I miss it this year. I love the meals and the endless cookies. I love the decorations, I love the beautiful singing, the familiar carols. But the best of Christmas and the best of life is God with us. Stay with me. Let's pray.

Speaker 2: 33:15

Father. We thank you for sending Jesus to be God with us. Thank you so much for the great things that you have done. Oh Lord, how we love you, and we say Jesus, we thank you personally for coming and being obedient all the way to Calvary, for being willing to suffer first for the glory of God and second for the good of your people. Oh, how we love you. It's a familiar story, the Christmas story, but let us pierce our hearts fresh. Today. There's one here that does not know you as Lord and Savior, perhaps even watching on the line. May they call out to Emanuel today God with us, the only means of salvation. May they be saved. Today we ask it in Jesus' name.

Speaker 1: 34:14

Amen. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg. Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, Kentucky. We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 10.45 am or Wednesday at 7 pm. Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.